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Week 10 Reflections!

"All is well that ends well", the saying goes! Unfortunately I couldn't end Webskills Course as I had wished! It's pity that this week I couldn't find time to be online! I couldn't meet the deadlines and couldn't even say farewell to my friends!

Now that I finally found time, it's late to say that I found the webskills course informative exciting and engaging! It'll make a permanent niche in my mind! Through this course I've got a large repertoire of tech tools and techniques and I plan to fully utilize them to enhance my teaching!

During these ten weeks, I used Nicenet, JupiterGrades, Wiki, Google Docs, RubiStar, WebQuest, Interactive PowerPoint, Blogger, PollEverywhere, SkyDrive, Delicious, MakeBeliefComix, ANVILL, Webinar, iSpring, Google Maps, TimeandDate.com, YouTube, CamStudio, to name just few!

Through this course, I've also got to know some very dedicated and committed teachers from across the world who are a constant source of inspiration for me!

Most of all, I'm thankful to Donna Shaw who patiently and laboriously explained every step and encouraged us throughout the course!



Muhammad Rashid

Week 9 Reflections

It's hard to believe that 9 weeks have passed so quickly! This week I've been awfully busy, yet somehow I managed to read the assigned material and complete the tasks. I revised the final Project Plan report in the light of Haggag's suggestions. I feel satisfied when I look at the final version of the Project Plan Report.

This week's reading material about learning styles in general and Multiple Intelligence in particular has been really informative and useful! It triggered further reading and I found some excellent resources on MI. Here is a useful resource that charts activities according to the students' intelligences. I think it can help us in writing Objectives and planning lessons.

Multiple Intelligences Chart

How do you ensure all of your students' intelligences are being tapped? Here is a list of activities that speak to each intelligence.

Verbal-Linguistic	Logical-Mathematical	Visual-Spatial	Bodily-Kinesthetic
choral speaking declarizing storytelling retelling speaking debating presenting reading aloud dramatizing book making nonfiction reading researching listening process writing writing journals	problem solving measuring coding sequencing critical thinking predicting playing logic games collecting data experimenting solving puzzles classifying using manipulatives learning the scientific model using money using geometry	graphing photographing making visual metaphors making visual analogies mapping stories making 3D projects painting illustrating using charts using organizers visualizing sketching patterning visual puzzles	hands on experiments activities changing room arrangement creative movement going on field trips physical education activities crafts dramatizing using cooperative groups dancing

Musical	Interpersonal	Intrapersonal	Naturalistic
humming rapping playing background music patterns form playing instruments tapping out poetic rhythms rhyming singing	classroom parties peer editing cooperative learning sharing group work forming clubs peer teaching social awareness conflict mediation discussing cross age tutoring study group brainstorming	personal response individual study personal goal setting individual projects journal log keeping personal choice in projects independent reading	reading outside cloud watching identifying insects building habitats identifying plants using a microscope dissecting going on a nature walk build a garden studying the stars bird watching collecting rocks making bird feeders going to the zoo

Read more on TeacherVision:http://www.teachervision.fen.com/intelligence/teaching-methods/2204.html#ixzz1eyjsZIJs

Week 8 Reflections through ANVILL

Hi Everyone!

Week 8 has been fabulous for me! There was a lot to learn this week but I completed the tasks quite comfortably. First of all, I completed the first draft of my project plan report and provided feedback on Haggag’s. I also created online personality quizzes using a free authoring tool called Quandary.

Best of all, I learned how to use ANVILL. To get a real taste of ANVILL, please spare few minutes and take the following test that I created using ANVILL.

Week 7 Reflections: A Live Poll

I've been running  to catch up with this week's tasks and assignments. But I've learned a lot!

After reading the articles about 'Learner Autonomy' and 'One Computer Class', I decided to create a lesson plan fostering learner autonomy. The word 'autonomy' made me think of slef-rule and hence I planned to aim my lesson at 'Electing Class Representative'. Then I started searching for a useful online tool to conduct secret voting. I found Poll Everywhere and was glad to find that students could poll anonymously through SMS. It's a great tool as I could use one computer with a large screen to show the live chart for polling and the students could use their cell phones to vote. (Like teenagers around the world, my students love sending SMS!). With free version of Poll Everywhere, I could receive responses from 30 students. The only thing I was worried about was SMS spamming. What if Poll Everywhere starts sending spam to the students. I verified it by using it myself and found it safe.

If you want to participate in a sample Poll please take some time to go through the following poll. Try sending your response through SMS. Simply type the CODE for your selected OPTION and send the SMS to the phone number given in the poll. If for some reasons, you can't send your SMS, you can go to the Web Link to enter your response. Look at the poll below to see live chart changes to accommodate your response. It's really exciting, isn't it?

Week 6 Reflections

I couldn't really focus as much on this week's tasks as I usually do. However, I did go through the reading material and I did look at the interactive presentations prepared and shared by all of you. I'm amazed at the work we've all done. Who would've thought we'd be able to create our own interactive PowerPoint Presentations in such a short time? I was just wondering how we could share these presentations online without losing the interactivity. You must have noticed that the online version of our presentations is not as good as the ones we created and viewed on our own systems. So I searched for the solution and tried SkyDrive to upload and share my presentation online. The result was something like below.



As you can see, through SkyDrive I can neatly embed my presentation into this blog but unfortunately it only supports linear presentations. I lost almost all interactivity that was crucial to the quiz I created. Then I tried iSpring Free to convert my presentation into flash file.

Still there’re issues to resolve but I think in time I’ll rectify them. I’m planning to use tools and techniques that I learned this week in our college website. At the moment it’s just a static website but I want to use it to upload dynamic content and to engage my students into interactive exercises based on the learning material that is part of their syllabus.